Danny's life in France

ok, so sorry for not posting this past week. i have just completely forgotten about it. but...so let's see what's been going on. classes and classes, as i'm sure all of you already know. and...then i got a call from a friend of mine who i worked with this summer in minnesota. she's in france right now not too far from me (about an hour and a half on the tgv). she's teaching english for the year. so she came down on wednesday night. i met her at the station and then we went back to my place to cook dinner. before that i had gone to carrefour (equivalent of super walmart) with lauren and kelly to get some stuff to cook. then...so we ate and looked at our pictures of the summer that we both have with us here in france. after that, we went to bed. then yesterday, we got up and while i was in class, she wondered around the city. in meeting up with her, i ran into someone else who i worked with this summer - it was completely wierd to see him here in france, same city, same country of all of the countries of the world, and at the same time!! whoa!! so we all went out for coffee and talked politics. that's a BIG topic of discussion here in france. everyone's got an opinion. after that, i went to another class. after meeting back up with sophie, we were walking back to my place in the rain when she suggested that we stop somewhere for a drink and just chat. so that's just what we did. it was the typical french cafe scene - just sitting there having a drink and watching the people go by. we both had monaco's. they're beer, limonade (lemony limonade doesn't exist here in france - it's like sprite) and grenadine (??). they're sooo good! and so then we came back to my place and headed back out to a small party at one of my friend's place. they just fixed dinner and we just sat around and talked. they had decorated their apt halloween style, too! lauren and i carved a pumpkin, which reminded me of halloweens in the states. halloween exists here in france, but it's...not like what it is in the states. there aren't haunted houses anywhere or anything. it's more like...something for the kids and the adults really don't care. but we americans don't let it go by the wayside! then today, i got up early and walked sophie to the station so she could catch her tgv to go back home. then i got on a bus and went to marseille. i had to go back to the OMI (the doctor's office where they first found that spot on my lung). i just had to give him the certificate of non-contageousness so he could give me my papers to get my residency card (carte de sejour). and as always, the nurses and reception staff were as rude as can be. but that's just the way things are here in france. in the us it's all client-oriented. here in france, they don't care. if they're having a bad day, they'll let you know it. and if they're on the phone and you're waiting in line for them to check you out, they'll finish what they're doing in their own sweet time before coming to help you. oh well. after that, i met up with stevie who was in marseille getting a visa (she's leaving for egypt on wednesday). she and i went shopping because she needed to get some skirts for egypt. after that kristen met up with us and we ate at this incredible italian restaurant. it was delicious!!!! if any of you come to visit me, i'll be sure to take you there. after that, we all got back on the subway to take us to the bus station, got on the bus and returned to aix. it's been raining all day and there are floods everywhere. now, lauren and i just got done looking for houses online. she, roman, a friend of his and i are all going to rent a house next year because it's cheaper than an apt. $950/mo!! $237.50 each a month!!! how good is that?!?!?!?!!? talk to you all later...

hi all. sorry for not posting lately. i've been really busy. besides, i've got a friend from summer camp visiting right now. so i can't leave her by herself for long. but i will post the week's events this weekend. love to all!!

ok, so yesterday i didn't really do anything. if i'm not in class, it seems that i'm not really doing anything!! homework - what's that? but...yeah, so i got up and decided to go get my train ticket to come back down to where i'm at after christmas. air france's prices are going up as time goes on and so are the prices for the tgv (bullet train). so i went to the train station and got my ticket before prices skyrocketed. and then i ran into derek and so we hung out in town for a bit. we came back and hung out in jessie's room doing absolutely nothing. then maggie and jessie were going to fix pizzas last night together. i told derek that i was gonna fix spaghetti, he said so was he, so we ended up compiling our ingredients together. we made this INCREDIBLE spaghetti sauce!!! it was soooooooooo good! and maggie and jessie's pizza was awesome, too! we're making more pizzas tomorrow night, i think. then came the cocktail party. i had a really good time...seeing as how i think i was still a bit drunk when i woke up this morning... more tomorrow! :)

ok, so since my last posting, A LOT has happened. first things first - i'm okay!!!!! ok, now to go in chronological order. so after i posted on wednesday night we went to see that movie. it was really good, but really sad. and...then i came back home and went to bed. got up on thursday (not sleeping very well that night) and headed to the hospital. the director of the program, janine feral, went with me. she ended up staying the entire day!!! that was sooooo nice of her! and when i went to give her money to get herself something to eat in the cafeteria, she refused! she was great. but i went in for my bloodwork first. and let me tell you i had a whole team of nurses hovered around me telling me to concentrate on something else to keep me from fainting!!! i had to have looked like a damned fool but who cares. then i went in for my MRI. they pumped me full of iodine, which made me feel a bit wierd. and my burps for the rest of the day weren't exactly...pleasant. just in case you wanted to know. but it was an open-faced MRI, which was a good thing. then came the worst part...the bronchoscopy (??). they gave me some anesthetic but what good that did. they basically shoved a LARGE straw up through my nose, down into my throat, and into my lung area. wanna talk about horrible! at once i couldn't hardly breathe and i told 'em. the doctor doing the procedure told me that it was ok because they were controlling my breathing!! but it was absolutely HORRIBLE!! having a foreign object shoved up your nose and down your throat isn't exactly fun. i cannot describe the experience in words. all i can say is hope you never have to have one!! so...after that, i couldn't eat for an hour and a half because my throat was stull 'asleep,' as we say in french. i got some of my results a bit later. i'm ok, but in feb. i have to go back for another chest xray. she says that if it's any bigger she's sending me to a surgeon. if it's any bigger in feb, i'm heading back to the states on the first available flight. sooo...i got back and took a 2 hour nap. it did me little good because i was still drained when i got up (in more ways than one, too! blood and energy...) oh, while walking back from the hospital, i stopped and got a bottle of water because my throat was REALLY starting to bother me. i told mme feral that it wasn't necessary for her to accompany me all the way back to my place, even though she was adamant about doing so. i called mom and dad on the way back. sooo...yeah, since i hadn't eaten for nearly 20 hours, i scarfed down the chicken and mayo sandwich i got. then we went to a welcome cocktail part for foreign students of the university. after that, well, nothing big. we just hung out...had dinner for a bit then i went to bed. this morning, i slept in, cleaned a bit, and left for the train station and the hospital. i got my train tickets for christmas time to go visit my host parents in st. brieuc and then my ticket st. brieuc-paris for dec. 23. and...after that i went back to the hospital where i had a longer meeting with the doctor, who by the way is just the most AWESOME person you could ever meet. it was just more of the same information. after that, i stopped at the grocery and got a few things for dinner and now i'm writing this email. whew!! what a lot, huh?? bye!

well, tomorrow's the big day. wish me luck everyone. and...aside from this horrifying story, today didn't bring anything new. i got up, went to class, went to subway (yay!) to eat with lauren and kelly and came back. lauren and i are getting ready to go to a movie 'elephant.' it's a story on the columbine shootings. soo...that about sums it up here on this side of the atlantic. and...tomorrow, thursday, the computer lab is going to be closed. so i won't be able to check my email or post on this website. but if you wanna know how i came through on my tests, call me. bye!

not much has happened since yesterday at this time. i was able to change classes! woohoo!! the class that i'm in now is a lot better. and...i got up this morning, ate, showered, and headed off to give monique english lessons. then i went to class, went to check my mail and went to another class. in between my classes i went to a cafe and had a coffee and read. then walking home from my last class ankica and i talked. she told me that i shouldn't be so tense (both due to classes and this lung problem). so i feel better. then i got back here and i saw lauren who went to paris this weekend (not with me). we talked about our weekends for a bit and then ate. now...i should probably go back upstairs and do some more reading...or simply go to bed. only one more day to go before the ever-dreaded hospital tests on thursday... who knows - maybe my next trip across the atlantic ocean will be in a coffin...

wow! it was wednesday that i last posted?! well, a lot has happened. so...i went back to the hospital on friday to have my tb test read. it was fine. but they are putting me in the hospital on thursday (oct. 23) to run some tests. i was absolutely beside myself. i called anne-caroline in paris and she told me to come up that night. so i bought my tgv ticket and 3 hours and 900 kilometers later, my train arrived in paris. i sat across from two screaming children for three hours. they kicked, screamed and crawled everywhere. anyway, we went to eat crepes at this restaurant after i got in (i got in around 10p). then saturday we went to a mall. she saw that my socks had some holes in them so she made me buy some new ones. then she got a webcam for her computer and went back and installed it. we ate lunch and then went to this ENORMOUS park that's near her house. we just walked around and talked. that night we went out for pizza and bowling with her friends. i also talked to her mom who's a radiologist. she told me that it's more than likely nothing to worry about. let's hope. and sunday i got up, ate breakfast, and headed back to the train station to catch the train to bring me back down here to the south. and on the return this baby boy puked all over the place. the whole car reeked of vomit! and since you're moving along between 250 and 300MPH it's not like you can just open the windows and air it out. oh well...it's not his fault. but i just had to get out of aix - to clear my head. sooo...i got back yesterday and took a long nap. after my nap, i ate and went to bed. well, i hung out with patrick and caitlin for a bit, though. then today i woke up, did some laundry and fixed something to eat. now i'm about to head into town to get a pillow case, do a bit of grocery shopping and to see if the director of the PoliSci institute is letting me change a class. i certainly hope so!! i can't take anymore of this one that i'm in now! well, love to all back in the states.

last night after we ate italian, we went to some friends' appt and hung out for a bit. that takes care of last night. now, this morning i got up at 6:30 to hoof it to marseille. the people at this doctor's office run by the french government were all as rude as can be and i certainly was just as nasty with them as they were with me. but the doctor was really nice. however, they found a spot on my lung (we had to have lung xrays to check for TB). so, they referred me to the radiologist at the aix hostpital telling me that it was more than likely a default with the machine. 'it's too perfectly round and smaller than a penny to be anything natural,' the doctor told me. well, i went to the aix hospital and it was still there with the xray that they took. they gave me a TB test and i have to go back and have it read friday at noon. then on monday i have to go back to marseille by myself (no big deal, but more money out of my pocket. AND i'll have to get up early to catch the train). oh well. after this whole shebang this afternoon, i finally came back at around 5:30 and laid down on my bed. A 4 HOUR NAP IT WAS!!! now...i'm gonna go call my grandparents and...either read some more or go back to bed. what a day from hell this has been!!!

yeah...so i slept in this morning and caitlin came over for breakfast. elyane had given me this incredible jam that she made. pear and apple with cinnamon in it...excellent!! and then i went to class. i've gotta somehow finish reading the book that i have to read for this class. but it's so hard to understand! and yesterday i got a call from our director here. i have to add another course to my schedule because in order to be considered a student at this one school, i am lacking one course to be considered a full-time student. so i added it. it's such a loooooong story, but it wasn't my fault (even though feral tried to make it sound like it was my fault). i just followed what my advisor in the US told me to take. she only told me to take 3 courses when i have to be enrolled in 4. oh well...i was pretty pissed about that one. and...so yeah. oh! justin and i got our train tickets for paris yesterday. WE'RE RIDING ON THE TGV!!! we're both just beside ourselves because we think that the high speed train here is the 2nd best thing to happen to humanity since sliced bread. 3 hours on the train instead of 12 hours by car. isn't that incredible?!?!? :-) and...today after class, i went to the office to check my mail. i saw lauren and caitlin there. we all went out for coffee and then i had to go get a $60 stamp for my medical visit that's tomorrow in marseille. i had to have a physical before i left the states. now, that's no longer valid, according to the french government. so i (well, all of us) have to pay $60 for a medical visit. AAAAAND we have to hoof it all the way to marseille to have it done. so we're leaving at 7AM!!!! i mean, what's up with that?? oh well...it'll be ok. now, we're all going to go fix italian. more to come later...bye!! :)

so lemme see what's gone on since the last time i posted. i didn't post at all on friday and honestly, i cannot remember what i did on friday. it wasn't much of anything, really. oh, i slept until noon, went to the political science institute and changed one of my classes. the one that i was in, civil law, was just too tough. and then...nothing really. oh! we all tried to do mexican. well, let's just say that fixing mexican food here in france is just a bit harder than in the states. first of all, the salsa has a different taste. AND sour cream doesn't exist here in france!!!! how awful is that?!?!? and we bought what we thought were tortilla shells. nope...they were nasty pastry-like flour sheets. NOWHERE near tortilla shells. but...it was okay. then, saturday i got up and headed for the train station. i arrived in miramas at noon and elyane was at the train station to get me. we ate at the house then we went to the edge of the alp mountains, a place called 'the alpines.' it's really pretty. nothing but rocky cliffs and DEEEEEEEEEEP valleys. there's a farm there that she likes to get goat cheese from. we walked around and saw all kinds of farm animals. it felt really good to get away from the rude people of aix and be in the country in nature and stuff. then...elyane went to a play on saturday night. my friend in miramas, morad, ditched our plans and headed to germany. i was pissed about that. we had been planning on going out to this night club for quite sometime and all of the sudden, he ditches our plans and heads to germany for some god-forsaken reason. then he told me on the phone (i called him sat. afternoon to see what was going on and that's when he told me) that we would get together sunday night. yeah...he never called. oh well. i haven't seen him in over a month and a half and heads to germany. anyway...i sat in front of the tv and watched a movie. it was REALLY good. so i guess things worked out for the best. then on sunday we went walking through MORE rocky valleys of the region, les calanques de marseille. we were basically rock climbing at times. it was sooooooo awesome!!!! and it wasn't too hot, so that was good. but there were about 10 of us...we had a really good time. all in all, i think we walked about 12 kilometers. that's a lot, eh?? i took some great pictures...i'll show them to you all sometime. and...then we came back to the house and elyane's son came over. he cuts hair so he cut our hair for free, which is a good thing because 1) i needed it badly and 2) it was free. here in aix it costs around 30 euros to have it done. this is such a rich town. nothing but doctors and lawyers. so needless to say the people are as rude as can be (because they've got money). anyway, back to the weekend, we ate dinner after that. then i watched a bit of tv and then went to bed. nothing really exciting. i got up at 7am this morning (monday) to catch the train back to aix. i got back, did some laundry, and now i'm writing this. that's it for now. more to come tomorrow (or wednesday if i forget to post tomorrow :) --peace

you all need to get on me about not posting everyday!! well, since my last posting, i started my civil law course. and let's just say that i'm going to drop it. it's just way too difficult. i mean, in the us i could do it, but here in france it's just a bit too much. besides, there are a lot of prerequisits and i haven't taken any of them. BUT i did get my grade for my intensive course...A+!!!!! i'm too happy about that one. and...today, nothing really. i just spent the last 3 hours outside talking to people. and my hands are FROZEN!!!! so i can't really type. oh...yeah, i'm going to miramas this weekend to see some friends. i waited in line at the train station for an hour and a half today because the computer system was running really slow. i could have used the automatic ticket machines to get my ticket but the lines caught on fire for some reason last night. so EVERYONE had to take a number and wait in line. when i arrived they were serving number 57 and i took number 86. on top of that the computers were slow!! oh well...but i'm not taking the tgv (the bullet train). it's a little box car train. but hey - for approx. three us dollars, can't go wrong, eh?? i'm leaving on saturday morning and i'll be back sunday night. but feel free to call my cell phone if you need me or want to talk to me!!! hope all's well back in the states...bisous!

well it seems as though i forgot about posting again yesterday. oh well...i'm sure y'all can find it in your hearts to forgive me. anyway, let's see here...where did i last leave off?? oh yes...well, yesterday nothing interesting happened. i slept until noon. i then got up and ran some errands. i went to the bank, went to the train station to get my train ticket to head to miramas this weekend (leaving on friday so don't be surprised when you see that i haven't posted all weekend long), went by the office to check on grades that weren't posted yet and...that's about it. nothing really interesting. however, alice had a big dinner in her room last night and invited a whole bunch of us up for something hot to drink. i had some tea. after that i went to bed. today i got up at noon (as per my usual :) and went to class. however, before going to class, i had my first teaching experience here in france!! i'm giving english lessons to a professor here at the university!! isn't that cool!? i then went to my class on WW1 lit. after that, i went into town and got a coat because it's getting down-right nippy here with that damned wind coming down from the alp mountains. i then went to a cafe and had a coffee and read some in my book for my lit. class. after that, i went to some an apt where some of my friends live. then some french people came over and we just talked about nothing in general. they're really cool people. we all then went out to this AWESOME greek restaurant. i had a chicken wrap. it was great! then i came back to my place and...have done nothing really. i talked to my mom a bit ago. other than that, i think i'm going to go to bed and get ready for my early day tomorrow...first class is at 11am. he he he...hope all's well with you guys.

ok, isn't it cold here today!!!! the wind has really picked up and it's like...in the 50's!!! i dug out my winter coat and wore it today...how awful is that?! but i had a good weekend, though. roman, a friend from iu who is studying in italy this year, came over to visit. we went to marseille yesterday and hung out. it was really cool. we went back to the famous cathedral on the hill, a nice park, walked down the champs elysees of marseille (canebiere), and just hung out with other friends of mine. it was really cool. and today we all got up and hung out here in aix. there's this really cool artisans market on the main street in the center of town. i bought this excellent jam that was on sale. i can't wait to tie in to that one!! now, i'm back from taking roman back to the train station (12 hours on a train to get back to italy). i'm going to go upstairs, eat some snacks and start reading for my class that's on tuesday. i hope all's well back home.

sorry for not posting yesterday. nothing interesing going on here. i got up today, cleaned a bit, did a bit of laundry and went to eat with jessie. i'm not waiting to head to the train station to pick up roman, a friend of mine from iu and who studied abroad with me 3 years ago who is studying in italy. he left italy at 6am this morning and is going to get in at 8pm tonight! what a long trip! but really nothing going on here. i'm reading a book for my lit course. it's about the first world war and the conditions the soliders lived in in the trenches. tomorrow we all are going to marseille. maybe there will be something interesting to write about tomorrow. toodles for now.

today i got up and went to my first class, but come to find out, it does not start until next wednesday. after my second class, i went shopping for the books that i need for it. wow! i am gonna have a lot of reading to do for this class. i then ate dinner with lauren and kelly at quick, the french equivalent of mcdonalds. nothing interesting today. maybe something more interesting tomorrow...